Maximum Ride 4: Say What?
by Livylooloo
Summary: When Max and the flock meet an unexpected person at a beach, things go wierd. Faxness and jealousy. please R&R.
1. The start of our mission

1**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. **

The wind was harsh against our skin. The sky was cloudy, so as we flew, we got wet. And it was

cold out. AND we were wearing ratty clothes that barely covered us.

Who is we, you may ask. We are the flock. There are 7 of us. Me(Max), Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy,

and Angel. The eight one is Angel's dog Total.

And yes, I did say we were flying. Not in airplanes. We have wings. We are mutant avian human

hybrids. Each of us have a weird power.

And almost 2 years ago, I was told to save the world. A BIG summary of what happened: I did.

Well, the whole flock helped. And we dont know if we are done yet. But we destroyed Itex and all

the schools, so we at least feel safe.

What happened since a year and a half ago when we left my moms house to go keep trying to save the world? We flew. From city to city, all over the world. Destroying schools. It was pretty cool. We

almost got killed several times. But we quickly recovered and went somewhere else. And now, we

are taking a vacation.

Flying around in harsh weather in Winter doesnt sound so great, huh? Not like a vacation, right?

Well, soon, it will all be better. We are heading to California. Warm. Sunny. Beaches. Eye candy...

wait. Did I seriously just say that?

We were almost there. We were in between Colorado and Utah.

We flew in a specific pattern I arranged last year to keep us safe. Me and Fang switched off being in

the front or back. Thats because we are the oldest. We are both 16. Iggy is 16 too, but hes blind, so

he can't really help leading the flock. Angel was in the middle. She is the youngest at age 8. Gazzy

and Iggy flew on the left. Iggy would always hold Total. Gazzy was now 10. Nudge would be on the

right. She has been so... so... teenager-ish lately! She turned 13 a few months ago, so now she is a

mixture between a girly-girl and a warrior/survivor/fighter. And she outgrew her baby skin and is

now so beautiful. She was 5 ft 6. Her hair was long and curly. Get this... she even asked me for

makeup for her birthday. No way.

Right now Fang was in invisible mode. Did I forget to mention that over the past two years, he kinda

discovered a power. Invisibility. Its really annoying sometimes, and also scary when you wake up

to see no one there.

We really needed new clothes. Even with our super stamina, we would only be able to stand this

weather for a matter of minutes.

"Okay everybody, we are landing!" I shouted. Fang shot down, followed by Angel, then

Gazzy,Iggy, and Nudge, and last me.

Once we landed, I looked around to check for danger. No one was around. "Who wants some

food?" I asked the grouup. Everyone started screaming: "I want pizza! I want hot dogs! Burgers!"

We settled on an all you could eat caf \i . When we entered, Angel walked into the bathroom to do her usual.

Whenever we go into public places, Angel goes in the bathroom and uses her mind-control

abilities(which are pretty scary) to get someone to give her either a credit card or 200 dollars in cash.

With the money, we buy food. And water. And a hotel room. The simple necessities. I know it's

illegal, but we need over 3000 calories a day and we only take from people wearing nice clothes and

look like their rich.

Angel came back smiling with a thousand dollars. "I'm sorry Max. I know our limit is 500, but this

lady was wearing a fur coat and had a Louis Vuitton purse and looked so warm. And she has

grandchilden. And I reminded her of them."Oh yeah, Angel can also read minds.

I just shook my head, angry but also extremely happy to have this money. "Ok everyone.. Get inline." I handed them each a 50 dollar bill.

We met up at a table, and all of our plates were stacked. Literally. I had 3 cheeseburgers, 7 hotdogs,

a loaded potato, two servings of pasta, a milkshake, and a salad. The cashier looked at me with this

weird look, but I stared him down with a glare. After we shoveled down our food, we all got up to

get seconds. We left the cafe feeling full and satisfied.

"Hey guys.. I see a hotel over their. It's really pretty. And it has a chirstmas tree in the lobby. Max!

Is it Christmas already? No, I am pretty sure it's at least a week away..." Nudge rambled. Growing

up did not effect how much she talked.

"Nudge?" I asked.

"Yeah Max?"

"Shut up."

We walked into the hotel. I went right up to the desk. "Two rooms please. Preferably connecting

suites." He gawked at me.

"You probably dont have enough money.This is a 5 star hotel, and you dont look a day over 20. I

don't think I can give you that."He said.

Angel spoke up. She looked 10, at least. But even so, she was a little sweetheart. "Um, do you think

that you can just give us the room? This one time. We will pay, but you wont tell anyone you let us.

And we wont tell." She smiled.

The man, whose eyes were blank, said, "Yes. I suppose I can give you the rooms. Just this once.

And I wont tell anyone. And you wont. That is good."I glared at Angel, who ahd him under her

mind control. I shot her a look that said, Please stop being bad to be good!

But, I was happy. We had 6 room keys. We took the elevator up to the top floor, and went into the

connecting rooms. All the girls were in one room, all the boys were in the other. And the beds were

HUGE. All of us could fit into it, and we are so tall. I was 5"11. Angel was 5"4. And Nudge was

5"6.

We unlocked the door in between our rooms. And I took a hot, hot shower. I even washed my wings.

I put on a fuzzy robe. "Ok, time for bed!" I shouted. Nudge and Angel were happy to sleep, but I

could see the guys were in no rush.Whatever. I fell asleep easily, and the snow outside grew thicker

and thicker.


	2. Sunny

1I woke up snuggled in between Angel and Nudge. I looked at the clock. Damn! It was only 6:00. I silently snuck into the boys' room to see if anyone else was awake. Nope. As I snuck out the door, I heard someone get up. I turned. It was Fang.

"Yo." He grumbled.

I smiled. "Let's go to the gift shop."

We put on our soggy clothes from yesterday and headed down to the lobby.

With 100 dollars, I bought us all sweatshirts and pants and jackets and windbreaker and shirts and for Fang and Iggy a hat. We looked outside the window, and last night there had been a blizzard. We were so mad. We had to fly in this wet, cold, windy weather. I took out some more money to buy more layers. We were going to Cali today, no matter what.

Ahhh...

I felt a nice, warm breeze sweep over my face. I lay tanning in the sun in California. I LOVED it here.

"Angel! Come here!" I shouted.

Angel popped her head out of the water and came over. "Yes?"

"Sweetie.."I lowered my voice, "Try not to stay underwater breathing so much, ok? We don't want the lifeguards getting suspicious." She nodded and ran back to the water. Fang chuckled.

"Yeah, the lifeguards have no reason to be suspicious of 6 kids with no parents and have wings. And a blind guy swimming laps." He said.

I punched his arm.

"Well, I am going to the bathroom. And I will be back. But until then, you are in charge." I tapped Fang's hand twice and walked up to the row of buildings near the beach. I was about to walk into the bathroom when a big hand grabbed me. I was about to shriek, but he covered my mouth. I tried to fight, but he had such a grip on me. He must have been at least 6 foot 3 inches. He pulled me into a equipment shack and locked the door. Damn.

"Let me out."I growled. He pushed me aside and snapped his fingers. Then, two huge wings snapped out from behind his back.

Say what?

They were gorgeous.

They were a soft creamy color with caramel and brown speckles. I was so confused.

"I... I... I thought they terminated every other experiment." I stood, shocked.

"My name is Sunny." He said. Just then, I realized how cute he was. He was perfectly tanned, with light blonde hair. He looked to be 20 years old. "Don't you remember me?"

I thought hard. And then, a picture came to my head. I was a toddler, maybe 4 years old. I was sitting in a cage with Fang, growling at whitecoats. We were snapping at the bars but they refused to open. In the corner of the room, in a separate cage, by himself, was an eight year old. He was sitting quietly. Jeb came into the room and picked him up. That was the last time I saw him.

"You... You shared a room with me and Fang." I stuttered. "And Jeb came one day. We both thought you were killed."

He shook his head. "No. Jeb drove me to a forest and dropped me off. He didn't give me a house like you. He didn't say anything. Just dropped me off. And then deleted my files." I gasped. "And then I came here. I went to a nearby hospital and pretended to be lost. Then a lady came to adopt me. She took me to California, and then when I turned 18 I moved out. But I still visit her."

Woah. Another one with wings. "Can you fight?" I asked him. "You never trained."

He nodded. "I guess just instincts."

I looked at him. "Fight me." I wanted to see how good he was. Maybe he could come with me and the flock to help save the world.

"I'm not fighting a girl, let alone a teenager!" But I aimed a punch right for his neck. He grabbed my wrist and spun it around. Instead of resisting, I jumped and followed it so it wouldn't twist. I kicked his back. He knocked my feet from under me. From down there, I snapped out my wings and kicked his lower chin. He stepped back, long enough for me to get up. I aimed another kick at his knee. He grabbed it in pain. I stopped fighting. I was better than him. Fang and Ig were better than him. He was probably tied with Nudge on the fighting scale.

"How do you know who I am?"I asked him.

"I have been following you. In the sky. Since you arrived in California. I saw you in the sky. I haven't seen anyone like you since... I cant even remember. Nightmares still haunt me of the School. When did you escape?" He asked.

I wasn't sure wether to trust him. "I can tell you that later. Now stay here."

I ran down the beach. I smacked into Fang, who caught me in a hug.

"Max? Are you okay? Max?" I smiled. He was so caring.

"I found another bird hybrid. He kind of... kidnaped me, but then told me who he was. I think you should come see him." I told him. He looked angry. We told Iggy to stay and keep watch, then ran up the beach to the shack.

Sunny told Fang what he told me. And I could tell by Fang's face he remembered. "He's safe." He muttered in my ear.

Sunny told us all about himself. Since they deleted all his files, he was never attacked by Erasers. I admired his strength. He went threw his whole life not knowing what happened to the School.

So we told him about us. He never met Angel. Gazzy was a newborn when he first saw him on his way out the School. Nudge was a toddler who still wore diapers. And Iggy still had his sight. "Iggy would look around the room, counting tiles on the floor and panels on the wall. He loved to see. It's such a shame about him being blind," he sadly said.

Fang was 6"1 now, just two inches shorter than Sunny. To show Fang his wings, he took off his shirt. Fang caught me staring at his perfect, toned, tanned abs and chest. And his wings took the breath out of me. They looked so soft, yet fierce when we told him about destroying Itex. His hair, which was golden, hung down like a surfer would wear it. "I do surf." He informed me.

Fang seemed to like the guy less and less. I don't understand why. They could have been good friends.

Angel and Gazzy and Iggy found us, and we introduced them all. Sunny smiled when he saw Angel. And he high fived Iggy. And Gazzy just loved him. "You are the COOLEST! I thought we were the only Avian Americans!" He exclaimed.

We went out of the shack and hung out on the beach. Sunny showed us how he surfed. Gazzy and Nudge were screaming with excitement and how they wanted to learn too. He grinned when Angel talked a fish into biting his toe. And when he showed me how to blow a conch, I felt like a superstar. He invited us to stay at his house, which was a block down the beach. We all shouted with joy.

And guess what Fang did the whole time?

Yep, you're right, Nothing.


	3. Jealousy

1That night, Sunny served us dinner. Of course, he knew how much food to make because he ate just as much as us. We had tons of maccaroni, pizza, burritos, and an endless supply of delicious brownies. They were so good: they melted in my mouth. At dinner, Fang was more silent then usual. I mean, he's always really quiet, but he at least talks. And get this: he hardly touched his food. Well, he did. He ate 5 brownies and a lot of macaronni, but to us, thats nothing. I was sitting next to Sunny and Angel. He sat next to Iggy and Gazzy. Usually we sat together. I sent a message in my head to Angel, 'What is Fang thinkiong?' She sent me back, 'He blocked me out. I'm sorry.' After dinner, he went into invisible mode. Sunny had one guestroom. Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge shared the bed. Ig and Fang and I slept on mattresses on the floor. "I'll take first watch he grumbled." Those were the first words he said to me basically all day. I felt safe. Did we really need to take watches? He insisted though, so I lay down. I couldn't sleep. What if Fang was mad at me?

"Fang?" I whispered.

He grunted.

"Are you mad at me?"

Another grunt.

"Ugh! You're impossible!" I whisper/yelled. I shut my eyes and pretended to sleep. Why was Fang so angry?

I guess I really did fall asleep at some point, 'cause I was dreaming about us all on the beach. Sunny was there. We were the only people there. He was flying, shirtless, showing off his muscles and smiling. Fang was flying, too, but he couldn't get as high as Sunny or as fast. Finally he landed, toom tired, but Sunny kept going and going. Finally Sunny landed. He grabbed my hand. "Come fly with me!" And we flew together. Fang tried to come up to be with us, and I could feel him pulling my hadn to come down, but I didn't. And then Sunny kissed me on my lips. Soft and quiet. And a second long. And then he smiled and kept flying. And I didn't realize it, but when we kissed Fang fell down to the ground.

I woke up smiling. That was a nice dream. Then I realized something. Was Fang jealous of Sunny? In my dream, he couldn't get high enough or fast enough. Sunny was better at everything. And then Fang fell, like he gave up. I sat up next to Fang. "Fang?" I asked him gently.

"What? Is it your turn to watch now?" He asked, icicles dripping from his voice.

"No. Are you angry?" I asked. Fang looked at me. I searched his eyes. They were mysterious.

"No." He looked away.

"Fang... Are you jealous?" I had to ask. A dark storm cloud took over his face. His eyes darkened.

"No. Why would I be jealous? We have fought more. We are better than him. We are the ones who saved the world, not him." He emphasized on we every time, as if trying to leave Sunny out. Fang was so angry. "It's your watch." He mumbled. Then he turned invisible and I saw the door open and shut as he left the room.

Why would he be jealous? I mean, he's my brother. Like my voice told me once, Kids grow up and have children of their own.

_I'm glad you're listening to my advice, Max. _I groaned. I heard from the Voice about once every two months. He was my dad. In my head. Jeb. And it was so annoying. Yet, helpful.

I let my thoughts wander.. to Fang, and Sunny, and Sam, and every other boy in my life. And I just sat like that until Iggy woke up and took the morning shift.


	4. Pain

1I woke up in the morning by a salty smell of eggs. Yum. I walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Iggy, Angel, Gazzy, and Sunny were all standing around the kitchen, cooking. "Sunny side up?" Sunny asked. I laughed..

Fang came down the stairs to the kitchen after we set the table. He grumpily sat down and said, "I hate eggs." I rolled my eyes.

"Since when?" I fake wondered.

He rolled his eyes. "I like eggs. Just not SUNNY side up." Iggy took Fang's plate to the kitchen and scrambled them. Fang nodded.

"Ok guys, what do you want to do today? We can go fishing on my boat, or just go on the boat, or go to the beach, or go to Hollywood, or Beverly Hills." Sunny announced. I smiled. A boat. How cool is that? All the kids were screaming, "Boat! Beverly Hills! No, boat!" Total even was arguing about wanting to go to Hollywood . Ugh, BORING!

"Total, why do you want to go there? It's chilly. And boring!" I informed him.

"One word, Max, celebrities! Brad Pitt! Britney Spears! Angelina Jolie! Paris Hilton! And maybe, just maybe, they will make a movie about me. It would be called, Total, the talking dog and hero. And it would star little moi!" I rolled my eyes.

"I say the boat!" I announced.

Fang muttered, "Then I don't." But everyone else agreed with me.

Sunny had 2 small cars. One was a Porsche. The other was a BMW. "I'll take Fang and Iggy in the BMW, you take the little kids." I told Sunny. Oh yeah, now that I'm 16, I have a drivers license. I didn't take the test or anything though. Nudge hacked into a computer at the library and made us all fake ones. So now, Iggy, Fang, and I could drive. Not that we were good or anything. I followed Sunny to this weird dock area. We parked the cars and unloaded onto the boat. We brought sandwiches and fruits.

Sunny pulled out of the dock and set the boat on Auto-Pilot. We were cruising strait. And the weather was amazing. I was lounging wit h Nudge and Angel on the deck when I heard a Splash! I looked over my shoulder. Sunny had docked the boat.And now Gazzy was jumping into the water so he could swim. I laughed. We unloaded floaties and rafts so that we could lounge in the water. I was lying down on a long raft-thing when I heard something under me. I screamed. "Sharks! Sharks! Ahhhhhh!! Save me!" My raft tipped over and I fell in. I felt something grab my stomach. Then, a little blonde head popped out from under the water. "GAZZY! NEVER DO THAT AGAIN, HEAR ME?" He nodded. That little prankster. Fang was laughing at me. I would never hear the end of this.

Later that day, we sat at this table and were eating our sandwiches. I was halfway through mine when Fang yelled, Shark!"I screamed and jumped up to scan the waters. He smiled slyly and I glared at him. No shark. I kicked Fnag's knee. "Ow." Fang muttered.

"What's wrong Fang? Got a boo-boo?" I mocked with fake motherliness.

"Its nothing." He growled.

We kept swimming after, and I was afraid Angel would make a real shark appear. Yeah, she can talk to fish. Sunny sat on the boat and just played some music for us. It was basically one of my best days. We let out our wings because no one was around. I loved it.

_Glad you're having fun Max. But guess what? The world is in danger, AGAIN._

DunDun Dunnnnn. I was NOT going to let the Voice ruin my day.

_Yeah right. We destroyed Itex and every last school on this planet._ I told him.

_Apparently not. _Ugh. Stupid Voice. I could deal with this later. I rubbed my temples. The Voice shot a searing pain through my head. I felt like lightning was burnign me and a knife was in the side. I slowly walked down to the cabin under the boat, where a bed was. I sat down on it and rubbed my head. I lay down and breathed hard. _Fine. I can deal now. What's up? _Only more pain was being sent through my mind. Tears were gathering in my eyes. I was sure my eyes were open, but all I could see was a dizzy white. I could hear Fang saying, "Max? Max. Max!" I tried to mumble back. I saw Fang's face swirling in front of me. I saw the flock gather around me and I semi-knew that Sunny was feeling my forehead. I kind of felt the boat moving. Fang sat with me the whole time, I think, rubbing my head. After a while it was just more white. The boat wasn't moving. Then it was like, where am I? I could hear the Voice saying something ut couldn't hear it.

And then it was just black.


	5. More Pain

1I half woke up sipping some orange juice. Fang was holding the cup and straw. "Wheresunny?" I mumbled. Fang held back a stifle.

"Sleeping. I have been taking care of you all night." He told me. Then he got swirly again. I felt sick. I think I walked to the toilet and threw up. I'm not sure though. Then I think I fell asleep again. "I think you have poisoning. Either from food or a drink or anything." He told me. I sleepily nodded. I was extremely dizzy.

_Max, can you hear me? _The Voice said.

_Yeah. Are you making me sick? _

_No. Someone of you is making you sick. Now listen to me carefully. _

I nodded, but wasn't sure if he could hear me so I said, _Ok._

_The School is back. There is one underground that survived. It was the emergency School. _

I tried to pay attention, but felt like I was slipping away. School's back. Great. And someone of the flock is making me sick. Another plus to my awesome day. _Wheresit? _I mumbled.

_Maine. And they are making creations. Powerful. This is your final warning Max. Save the world. _

I fell asleep.

I awoke feeling horrible, but there was balloons by my bed. I read a card,

Fel Bettr Max!

Love, The Flock and Sunny

I opened a present nearby. If I had more energy, I would have screamed with joy. It was a cell phone. On speed dial was Fang and Iggy and Sunny. Apparently, he bought them one also. The flock walked in. "Like it?" Sunny asked. I nodded. "And it's one of the newest versions! It's not even out in stores." I grinned. Iggy brought me some french toast with syrup. I gobbled it down.

"Sunny made it." Iggy told me. Gazzy and Nudge were playing with my phone and I thanked Fang for taking care of me. "I'm all better now though." I told him. But then I wasn't. I felt pain throughn my head again. I saw everyone looking scared. I lay down and shut my eyes. Ahh. "Can you guys just give me an hour to rest? Except Angel." Everyone left the room except for Angel.

"Sweetie, listen up. The Voice told me someone in the flock was making me sick. Now, I want you to go outside and find out who. Ok?" She nodded.

"But Max? Can I say something?" She asked me. I gave a tiny nod. "Something weird is going on in Sunny's head. I cant tell what it is. Like when he gave you your cell phone, it was part of a bigger plan. And when he was cooking he was thinking about something else." I processed this information.

"Ok. Go find out more." When she left, I lay down, and willed myself to fall asleep.

I woke up to a shattering window. I groaned and sat up. "Fang?" I opened my eyes and saw something horrible. Fang was holding two **things **against the wall. They were fierce looking. With huge jaws and long nails. Tails that could knock the life out of you._ And one was trying to pick me up. _I swung around and tried to punch it, but I was still so weak. I barely did a thing. I scanned the room. Angel was telling three of them to leave and never come back to us. Iggy was beating one up. Nudge was elbowing one in the gut. Where's Gazzy. I saw him grab something from his backpack. He put it on the one that was holding me's back. Angel told him to drop me. I fell. And the bomb exploded. Fang grabbed me and jetted up above the broken ceiling. The whole flock followed. "Sunny?" I asked.

Angel looked at me with a sad look. "He's evil Max. He's the one who make you weak, then called these lion hybrid things to come attack. He thought we wouldn't stand a chance. Especially you." This was too much to handle. I fell asleep. I think in Fang's arms.


	6. They're Baack

I woke up again, feeling stronger and definetly more angry. It took me a while to gain enough strength to say, "Where are we?" I suddenly realized that I wasn't flying, and Fang was holding me. I jumped out of his arms and flung out my wings. He stared at me.

"We are just flying in circles basically. We don't know where to go. Its been kinda fun though cause it's like cirlce circle circle and then we would get tired and stop. But we havent seen those lion things. OO they are so creepy. Guess what? I pulled ones tail and he hit me. I even got a bruise. But then I got angry s I knocked him out. BAM!" Nudge babbled. Angel grabbed her mouth and Nudge mouthed, sorry. My mind raced overtime, trying to remember all the past events.

Sunny was evil and kept poisening me so I would be weak when the lion things came.

Fang was the one who took care of me and rescued me.

The School is back. Ugh. I really hate California.

"Ok guys, we are heading towards Maine. We won't go fast, we are in no rush. Just keep flying and I will tell you when we land." I shouted. Everyone spread apart to fly . We all needed time to think. I saw Fang staring straight ahead, flying.

After about thirty minutes, I flew over to him. "Fang?"

Silent.

"I'm sorry."

Still silent.

"Fang, I'm really sorry I didn't ask for your opinion when we stopped there. I could tell you knew he was bad the whole time! And I'm sorry for making you seem unimportant or ignoring you or not being grateful. Thank you for taking care of me and rescuing me. I'm sorry Fang! Please, please talk."

Wait for it... wait for it... Silence.

He turned his head towards me, "You were so obsessed with Sunny, you didn't even care how I felt! If you at least talked to me _once _when we were there, we could have left and you wouldn't be sick or anything. That was so stupid! Crap, Max. I was feeding you orange juice and french toast, and you ask me where SUNNY IS! You... you... You're so SELFISH!" He growled at me and raised his voice on that last part. Then he turned invisible, and I could hear him zoom away. My eyes were hot with tears. My best friend. My left wing. Why was I so stupid?

If I spoke I would cry, so we kept flying. When I calmed down, I shouted to everyone, "Ok... 9 o'clock down, we are sleeping in a cave." Everyone turned and landed. I counted heads. Only 5. Damn. I scanned the sky. No lion-hybrids. Good.

Everyone went to sleep. I stayed up, taking first watch. I texted Fang:

Where r u? Cum bak. Plz.

-Max

I was getting tired fast. I still wasn't 100 better. "Iggy?" I whispered. In a second he was alert and came over to me. "Is Fang here?" Since Iggy is blind, invisibility has no effect on him.

"I hear someone flying near the cave, but he's not in. I'll take second watch." I whispered thanks and went lie down near the front of the cave. My eyelids were shutting, lower and lower. Right before I fell asleep I saw Fang enter the cave.

I woke up. No one was around me. Crap. Crap.Crap crapcrapcrapcrap! And that was an understatement.

I raced to the front of the cave. My flock was outside, in the air, fighting their hearts out against these huge, menacing creatures. They were good. These lions were huge, and we were so small. And they were good flyers. I felt a punch in my back, and lost my breath. I came face-to-face with one of these things. I quickly caught my breath and kicked him in his neck. Then I ran out and snapped out my wings so I could help the rest. I heard Angel's voice in my head, can we use our powers? I nodded. I always told them it was unfiar to fight with powers because they didn't have that advantage. But this was life or death. And I was choosing life. I saw everyone go into their power mode. Iggy didn't have a power, except for his extreme hearing. But that was because he was blind. Gazzy made his voice sound like the Director. "Stop fighting. You have won." These stupid things looked around for her and he snapped one's back. Bam! He hit one under the nose, and I could almost hear it crumble. Ew. Nudge's power wasn't an advantage as much as the rest of ours, but she could find their weaknesses. By touching one, she could find out that he was orphaned as a baby and missed his mom. So she would taunt him, "Oh look, mommy's over there!" HE would turn his head, and she would growl, "Oh wait. She's not. And won't ever be!" She sent a flying kick at his wings, making them bend and him fall. I never saw how mean she could be. Angel was sending groups of them down to smush their faces against a rock. Where does she get this stuff? And then I heard Fang. He let out a roar as one, the biggest one, twisted his arm. Fang grimaced in pain and I flew over. "Max..."He whispered. He could only fight with one arm, and the huge lion was scraping his claws against Fang's back. He was squeezing his eyes shut. Oh man.

"STOP RIGHT NOW!" I screamed and launched myself at the lion hybrid. I kicked his ribs. His neck was huge and covered in hair, but I grabbed the skin and flew at superspeed backwards. He roared. I flew up and super sped down, crashing both feet onto his head. He stumbled, weak, dizzy, and in pain I grabbed Fang and pulled him up with me high. Everyone followed.

Once we were far away, I looked at Fang. He was way out of it. The scratches on his back were gushing blood. He was moving his lips, but no sound was coming out. Fangs shirt was way destroyed, so I pulled it off him. I made it into a bandage and rapped it tight around him. He was breathing short, quick breaths. And that faded to no breaths. We found a cave and lay him on his stomach so the blood wouldn't pour out. He was turning blue. Shoot. I started crying. And once I started, I couldnt stop. Fang was dead! No, this couldn't be possible. I was crying, and crying, and crying so hard. Iggy had his arm around me.I lay down to fall asleep.

And when I woke up, Fang twitched.


	7. Evil Belongings

I woke up from my long, troubled sleep. I felt my eyes. They were still wet. I glanced over at Fang's body. His back had dried blood on it, and his face looked like someone stuck it into a rosebush with thorns. This wasn't fang. It's just his body. But, then, it twitched. I blinked my eyes, hard, to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But, he was turning. He was ALIVE! How did this happen?

_Fang can die. But right now, he is supposed to help you save the world. He is incredibly invincible. Only something of extreme power can defeat him._

I silently thanked my Voice. it was sort of like another power: EXTREME invincibility. I mean, the whole flock can survive major cuts and we heal quickly, but we can't DIE and come back.

I ran over to Fang. I didn't realize I had been crying since he twitched the first time. I lay his head on my lap and stroked his hair. I gave him some fresh water. He was extremely weak, and he even looked skinnier. But he was alive. When everyone else woke up, they rushed over to me, and tried to tell me that I'm only making myself more upset by being with him so much, but then they saw that he wasn't dead. We were all crying. Fang still wasn't awake, but in my heart I knew he was happy.

He slept the whole day. His eyes twitched open, and I could even see a small smile.But they would shut again. Nudge ran to the store and picked up smoothies, 'cause he couldn't eat yet. We basically shoved it down his throat.

Later, before bed, Angel came up to me. "Guess what Fang's doing?"

I guessed, " Sleeping?"

She giggled, "NO! In his mind! He's thanking Itex for giving him powers. And for letting him live. And he's thinking about you. And he's very happy we nursed him." I smiled. Good ol' Fang, thanking everyone even when he sleeps.

Everyone was sleeping when Fang woke up. He just sat there for a while. "Max..." He barely whispered.

"Yeah?" I whispered back. He was so weak, could hardly talk.

"I'm sorry." I almost cried again. Did he seriously think this was his fault? He lay there and shut his eyes. He looked sad. I whispered, "Sh. Go to sleep." And he did.

When everyone woke up, I called them in for a family meeting.

"Ok everyone. We have been attacked by these things TWICE. First, we need a name for them. Second, we need to figure out how they are finding us. I am sure none of you are telling Itex about it, because if so Angel would have caught you. So, we need to find out."

Gazzy raised his hand, "LET'S CALL THEM PENCILS!" Everyone laughed, because the old enemies were Erasers. But I didn't find it funny. I thought of Ari, my half brother. He died in my arms, just like Fang became alive in my arms. Angel grabbed my hand and smiled. She knew what I was thinking.

I shook my head, "I don't think so, Gaz. How about Kings, though? Like king of the jungle, which are lions. And they won't know what we are talking about when we say kings.. so how bout it?" Everyone nodded. "So, why do they keep finding us? If you guys know anything, you spill. You won't get in trouble, but you will if you don't tell." Everyone thought long and hard. It was silent. Total suggested, "Maybe your chip is back!"

I glared at him. "I got it surgically removed. It is NOT back." He frowned.

Iggy spoke up, "Maybe someone else has a chip too."

Ugh. "I hope not. We do NOT need 5 human-bird kids with paralyzed arms. But, just in case, I am going to feel each of your arms."

They all got up. I reached over to Gazzy and felt his arm, right in between his two arm bones. I pushed, and there was nothing. I did the same to Angel, Nudge, and Iggy. I even checked Total. Fang was last. When I grabbed his arm, he winced. "You okay?" He nodded. I barely put pressure on his arm with he pulled back. "Fang, I need to feel your arm." He frowned but held out his arm. He squeezed his eyes shut when I put slight pressure on it. That's when I felt something. Not a chip, though. "I think your arm is broken." He grimaced.

"'S not."I now understood why he was in so much pain. It was. And our bones dont heal as fast as out skin. It would probably take four days to heal, minimum. So, no chips. Broken arm. What now?

Nudge got up and stretched out her wings. "Well, I'm hungry." She began to walk towards her bag full of candy bars when she tripped on mine. She caught herself because of super fast reflexes. "Agh!" She screamed. She pulled her hand from the ground. "There is something evil in there." I almost laughed when she pointed to my bag.

I walked over and dumped my contents to the ground. "Look, a sweater. Some food. My cell phone. A picture of Gazzy and his mom. And just some more junk." Nudge felt the stuff on the ground.

"Your phone is bad." I almsot laughed again. Oooohh, evil phone. But I could tell she was serious. I held the phone and went through the menu, and the settings. That's when I found something.

Iggy heard my silent gasp, "What's wrong with it?"

I dropped the phone, "There's a tracker in it." I found a rock and stabbed it. I heard it electrify. I stabbed it again. Then threw it against the wall. I stepped on it. And then I threw it off the side of the cave. "That felt good." I breathed, as I heard my phone crumble. I did the same for Iggy and Fang's phone.

Iggy started cooking eggs for lunch and I was sitting in the corner of the cave with Fang. He was still slightly angry at me. "Are you warm or something?" I asked, noticing the beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Yeah. I'm just wearing a sweater."He motioned to his jacket. I remembered his shirt getting shredded, so we put him into a sweater. He must have been warm.

"Want to go get you a shirt?" I asked, already getting up and stretching my wings. He nodded, and I helped him get up. He looked extremely skinny from being sick and not being able to eat.

We flew out to the mall nearby, searching for the cheapest store.

Fang led me into a white store, and we began the mad search.


	8. The Dissapearing Act

I walked into the store, feeling so very paranoid. Is he a King? Is she? Haven't I seen him before? But I let myself roam through the isles and pick out some clothes for myself. The store had EVERYTHING! Clothes, toys, food, books, and even toothbrushes! I was at the cash register, paying for my stuff, when I saw Fang walk towards me. He hadn't spoken to me that much, I knew he was still mad. He shouted from a few isles down, "Hey Max! You forgot your underwear! You need some new ones! You ruined your last ones, remember?" I glared at him, and he smirked. Was this his payback for my mini-so-little-almostnotthere- obsession with Sunny?

The cash register guy looked at me, "Aren't you a little old to be wetting your bed?" I stormed out of the store.

I flew back to the cave and landed badly. My knees scraped the floor and my wings bent a little. I rubbed their tips. I slunk to the corner and took out a map. We were in Nevada again. I sighed. Right now, the School must have been creating cruel, odd experiments. And, what if there were more bird people? Sunny survived. But Jeb could have deleted others files. Maybe we should find them. Make a small army. Collect all sorts of experiments that Itex forgot about.

_You're right._

The Voice. _What am I right about? Other experiments, or you deleted files, or what? _

_I have helped you enough, Max. If you need me, really, truly need me, I will be here. In Maine. Or maybe in your head._

"Nudge, come here." I ordered. She walked over. "Can you bring the laptop and help me with something?" She grabbed the laptop and sat next to me, leaning against a wall. "Do you know how to hack computers?"

She nodded, "I have twice before."

"Nudge, listen closely. I want you to enter the code to hack into Itex's computer, 14- 20 years ago." She started working. I saw her mouth moving in number shapes, and she was staring straight ahead, not even at the computer. Her mouth kept moving. Her eyes were blank. "Nudge?" Nothing. "NUDGE!" I screamed. Her eyes filled with life.

"Yeah, Max?" She smiled.

"How do you know these codes?" I asked her.

She stared at me, "When I was a baby, I would watch Jeb type codes. And now they're in my head. And if I need a new one, POP! It's there. Duh." I rolled my eyes. What, does this girl have super memory or something?

"Nudge, what's the code for Itex computer 71 in room 190?" I asked, testing her.

"Zero nine two four o one little m big m seven nine two four six nine fifty-two big P eight o two one seven nine four three two two zero little l..." I covered her mouth.

"Just keep working." I instructed. Her mouth moved as she kept typing, typing, typing. This girl was sma-art! Finally, a screen popped up.

"This is the exact computer from 16 years ago. All the info is on it. If you need to go a few years back or forward, just tell me.

I searched around with Nudge by my side. Finally, I got to a page with pictures on it. I saw a baby, maybe six months old. It was a girl, told by the pink blanket around her.

**I looked around and smiled. The man holding the camera is taking a picture of me. I frowned. I don't like pictures. I looked around. There are two babies nearby. One is biting the whitecoat, and looks to be three months old. The other is newborn, so small and fragile, and he couldn't do anything. On my left are two more babies. One is a girl and one is a boy. The boy is a month old. The girl is three months old too. My back is burning. So is my head. I am crying now. I turn my head and see a big man, holding a scalpel. He picks me up and brings me to a wierd smelling room. I see the knife coming towards me. And then I feel pain. **

"Max! Max!" I hear the flock screaming. I open my eyes and look around. I felt tears running down my face. Fang was on my left, Nudge in front of me. The rest of the flock were gathered around. Fang stared at me. "Max, what happened?" My tears were drying up.

What did happen? My brain felt normal. My eyes felt normal. But memories had flooded into my brain, of the day that picture got taken. And there was intense pain. It was horrible. "I had... a... a... flashback. And, Iggy was there, and Fang was there, and there were two more babies there. And then a guy cut into my head..."I started crying again. "Guys, everyone but Nudge leave." They all flew off, and I could see them having a fmaily meeting in the sky. I too the laptop and scrolled down, until I saw two pictures of the babies that matched the ones in my flashback. Under, it said: experiment 42901887.

"Memorize that, Nudge." She glanced and nodded. She was scared."Now go three years in the computer. Which would be 13 years ago." She typed the code. She brought me to the page of experimetn pictures. I clicked avian/human hybrid. I saw a picture. It was Nudge. She shrugged, "I don't care. I'm fine. Keep going." But I could see she was sad. No babies deserved this. No babies deserved the pain I felt, those surgeries, those cold cells and mean doctors. When we get to Maine, I'm gonna... I don't know. Kick their...butts. I saw horrible pictures. Babies with scars. With blood. With deformed arms nad legs. And under all the pictures of ruined or failed experiments, it said TERMINATED. We searched all the pictures. I saw Fang's picture. He was 3 years old. He was red in the face, like he's just been crying or screaming. His fists were clenched, like he had a need to beat up the guys taking the pictures. That made me smile. I didn't want to see my picture. I didn't want a flashback. I saw Iggy's. It made me laugh. Iggy wouldnt stop screaming unless they gave him a cookie, so in the picture he was holding a cookie. Then mine. I couldn't help but to look. My hair was stringy and unhealthy. I was skinny. Tall. Yet fierce. My eyes held fire. And I was blurry, because I kept moving to try to escape.

**I kicked and screamed as the big hands pulled me out of the cage. I grabbed the man's ears and pulled hard. The boy in the cage next to me was biting his whitecoat, hard. He pulled back and ripped skin from the man. He was rewarded by a hard slap. The other little boy was given a cookie, so he wasn't fighting. I've seen him before. Once he finishes that cookie, the whitecoat is toast. My man slammed me down on a cold, metal bench and snapped my picture. I looked around for my friend. The only other girl my age. Was she terminated? I started crying, and I kicked a whitecoat name Jeb as he put me in my cage. He whispered, "Don't worry. This will all be over one day." Then he kissed my head. **

"Nudge! Search the page for that experiment we saw three years ago." She entered Experiment 42901887. The bubble popped up: there is no experiment with this classification.

That afternoon, we searched through pictures. It was horrible. Failed experiments. Good ones. And, as the years past, we saw some dissapear. Which either means they have deleted files and are alive, or they have deleted files and are dead.

As we passed, we saw Iggy. He was looking upset, and blind. I had a horrible flashback from there. He was screaming, and I could hear him through soundproof walls. It was horrible. When night came, I looked into Nudge's eyes. And now, I knew. She's not one of the little kids anymore. She is a true fighter. And she's scarred for life from images of failed experiments.


	9. Too much to think about

That night, I offered to have first watch. I needed some time to think.

First off, what do I do now? Should I go to Maine and destroy the Itex they are building up? Should I find all thE other Avian Americans with deleted files? Should I try to go into hiding with the Flock, find a home, and never leave?

Thoughts twisted around in my head. I would think I had a dicision, then second guess myself and change my mind. My temples ached and I wanted to cry like the big baby I really was. But I had to stay strong for my flock, and had to stay a good leader.

_Any suggestions Jeb? _I begged my Voice. Typical. No answer.

For hours I debated with myself. I was still arguing when I heard slight footsteps. My senses shot into fighting mode and I leapt up from the ground. When I saw it was just Fang, I relaxed. He slunk down onto the floor next to me. Our backs leaned against the wall, and we just sat there in silence for a minute. Finally he looked at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I swear, I think Fang's power is telling what emotion you have.

And as you all know, I am SUCH a terrible liar. "Nothing!" I whisper yelled.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah right. Spit it out."

I sighed. There was no point in lying. "Fang, what do I do now? I'm so confused. I thought we saved the world. I thought we destroyed Itex. But of course not. Our lives just can't be that simple!" He opened his mouth to talk, but I kept going. "So now I find out about hybrids JUST LIKE US and I am more confused than ever. All I want to do is go home. But that's impossible too, because there is no such thing as home to us." Saying that made me feel a little bitter, but I still felt weak. I would NEVER admit that in front of anyone but Fang.

Fang looked at me sympathetically. "Max, everything will be ok. I mean, there is only one, tiny, backup Itex left. Iggy would be able to get rid of that by himself, and he's bllind. If we can destroy the main building, than we can destroy this little wimp." He gave a small smile. I was shocked. Fang has never said so many words. I nodded. He continued talking, "Max, you are tired. I'll keep watch. You go to sleep. And stop worrying. We can make a full plan in the morning." I nodded and curled up next to Nudge. She was wimpering in her sleep, probably seeing those pictures we saw earlier in her dreams. I rubbed her back and murmured lightly in her ear, giving her reassuring words. Nudge stopped making noise and fell into a deeper sleep.

And when she did, so did I.

But not for long.


	10. Footsteps

Here is the last part of the last chapter to refresh you...

**Nudge stopped making noise and fell into a deeper sleep. **

**And wehn she did, so did I.**

**But not for long.**

Oooh Cliffhanger right? Well here goes Chapter 10!

I woke up, feeling like I slept for a minute. Someone was shoving my shoulder gently. I opened my eyes and Fang stood over me, looking invisible in the night. He held a finger over his mouth to indicate be quiet. He mouthed, Footsteps. Get up.

Without a word, I silently stepped to my feet. We tip-toed to the end of the cave. I looked around for Kings. I couldnt see anyone. I mouthed to him, Are you sure? He nodded. Everything was really quiet, and then I heard it. Thump. A few seconds pass. Thump. My heart caught in my chest. I breathed out so silently that even Fang wouldn't hear it, "Iggy." He immediatly opened his eyes and must have heard the thumps. He silently shoved Angel and whispered so quietly into her hair, "Is anyone here?" She nodded. Fang woke up Gazzy and I kicked Nudge awake. We were so quiet from years of practice.

Everyone looked around, and I knew we all heard the steps. They were getting close, too. I looked towards Angel, standing near the back of the cave. Thump. THump. She looked as if she would cry. She mouthed, "They are very close. Too close." And what happened next was so quick you would have missed it if you blinked.

I tried to shout. I tried to scream. But the King was way too fast. One minuted Angel was mouthing me a warning, the next happened in slow motion, but so quick. GEt it?

It was like Angel mouthed her last word, close. Click. A King jumping from behind the shadows. Click. A King pushing Angel to the floor. Click. Gazzy running up to her. Click. Blood collecting around her. And then it was normal speed. I flung out m wings and launched one of my power flying kicks at the Kings neck. He fell to the floor and growled at me. I could see Fang fighting off a few more near the entrance of the cave. He was doing well. Nudge was beating one up. Literally. She punched his nose so hard, blood was gushing out like Niagara Falls. "You..." Kick. "Stay.." Punch. "Away!" Slam punch with all her weight into his back. He fell to the floor. She quickly ran off to help Iggy. Iggy was fighting off pretty well, trying to find time to grab one of his bombs and shove it up that Kings... butt. I checked around again. Gazzy. Where was he? And then I saw. He was holding Angel, flying towards the ground. He saw me staring and looked apologettically, as if trying to say, I want to fight,but Angel isn't safe up there. I nodded and got back to action. I was running to Fang when I was dizzied by a blow to my head. I snapped my wings and flew so my feet were level with my head and nearly chopped off one of their heads. I ran to Fang. There were five of them circled round him. Fang, being one of our best fighters, still wasn't good enough for that. He looked at me with a pained expression. I shook my head. A silent message passed through... he thinks we are losing. I say no. I pulled the King's wings as hard as possible. He gasped and hit the ground. Next.

When the time was right,I tapped Iggy's hand five times. That was a new thing for us. It meant, Do what you gotta do. And he knew what I meant by that.

I grabbed Fang and Nudge's hand and shoved them out of the cave.It was painful to leave Iggy by himself though. We flew a good twenty feet up. And then we saw Iggy sprint, faster than ever, off the ledge of the cave. He let himself drop ten feet and we all heard a huge boom. The whole cave had blown up. Iggy had used his strongest bomb. I dive bombed, being followed by Nudge and Fang, and swooped down and grabbed Angel from the ground. Gazzy snapped his wings out and followed us out. Angel was alive. She had a massive gash in her head, but was alive. I let a tear fall onto her cheek. It was a tear of gratitude. I heard a faint, weak voice in my head.

_I don't know what I would do without you either Max. I love you too. _Aw. Angel sent me a message. She was too weak to talk, but she sent me a mind message! I squeezed her hand and kept flying. After an hour, I felt her squirm in my arms. I unwrapped my arms and she snapped out her wings. She was flying a little lopsided.

"Angel?"

"Yeah Max?"

"Why are you flying like that?"

"I can't help it. I'm reallllyy diz..." She never finished her sentence. She was losing altitude. Really, really quickly.


	11. Safe, but not for long

Angel was falling really quick. "Iggy! Fang!" I shouted their names and we all swooped to catch her. I caught her back. Iggy grabbed her legs. Fang supported her head. "9' o clock! Straight down!" There was a clearing so we all landed. We lay Angel down and she opened her eyes. Her lips were blue.

"Angel, honey, tell me what happened," I held her hand and ordered her.

She took a deep breath and winced. "Well, I was flying. But it hurt when I breathed. So I stopped breathing."

I smacked my head. I mean, I know she's only six, but shouldn't she have more common sense than that? I lifted her shirt right about her ribs and felt her stomach. Nothing was wrong. But as I moved to her ribs, something was off. Crap. She cracked a rib. "Guys, we can't fly like this. We need at least a couple of days until her rib is healed," I told everyone. They all nodded.

We collected some fire wood and started cooking eggs. The smell was amazing and I sighed.

"Um, I am gonna go to find some fresh water. If there is none, we can't stay here." I told everyone once we finished eating. Fang leapt up from his place on the log.

"I'll come,too." He stepped off and we started walking.

"Listen closely... Is that water?" I asked him. He nodded. We followed the sound.

After a couple of minutes Fang said, "I have an idea of what to do."

I never have been good at sharing my leadership, but I still wanted help. Scratch that. I needed help. Fang continued, "We find a few of the missing human-avians. With them, we will be powerful enough to do anything. Then we go to Itex and bring them down." I didn't like the idea of having more Flock members.

"Fang... We are fine on our own. We don't need more people."

He looked at me skeptically. "Max, Angel has a cracked rib. We hardly could beat the Kings last time." I agreed with him. "Max, what are you thinking about?"

I sighed. "I'm thinking about how I can't trust anyone. I mean, Sunny. Jeb. Who else will come along and try to stop us?" He looked at me sadly. "I mean, I trust the whole Flock with my LIFE, but I feel like the whole world is ganging up on us, and doesn't want us to defeat Itex."

We finally reached a nice river. I sat down, leaning on a tree. Fang crouched down too.

He was about to say something when we both heard a ruffle in the trees. "Joomay. Suntear lonoun krinto." I ordered in our secret language. It meant, Be quiet. Get ready to fight. We stood up and I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Danger!" And then we started running. I was slightly in front of Fang. I looked back and saw a girl with fiery red hair streaming down her back. She was just as fast as us. We had to fly.

I gave fang a signal. We have done this once before, but only in emergency situations. As we ran at our super quick speed, I stopped dead short and crouched. Fang stepped on my back and flew up gracefully. The girl, who was feet behind him, just smacked into me and toppled over.

I snarled, "Haven't done this before, huh?" And then I snapped out my wings and joined Fang in the sky. I saw Fang check her out. I glared at him. I knew he liked redheads, but I had a vibe she was bad. I grabbed his hand and started flying at superspeed. He was getting pulled behind me, but in a second we landed at our camp. They were all packed up and ready to leave. I picked up Angel and we all shot into the sky. We flew at a slow speed, we were all so tired.

That would have been fine, but someone was chasing us.

Scratch that. Two someones were chasing us.

And one jumped onto my back, which would have been fine, but I was holding Angel.

And Angel fell just as I turned to beat this girl from here to the next millenium.


	12. Fight

The girl stared at me, face to face, our wings flapping identically. Her hair was fiery red. Her naturally tanned skin was full of cuts and bruises. Her eyes were a stormy gray color, and her wings were red and brown streaked. HEr face was an angry red color, her fists were in balls. Through gritted teeth, she growled, "Who are you?"

I gave out a dry laugh. "Haven't you heard? I'm Maximum Ride."

Her mouth gaped open, obviously this girl knew about how I destroyed Itex... blah blah blah. What she didn't know is that I didn't really destroy it.

Her mouth was still open when I fipped backwards, but left my feet out, in the act kicking her chin upwards. "Haven't you ever heard that its rude to stare?" I teased, then did I fly-kick across her face. Her face turned from amazement to anger.

"You beat Omega. But you can't beat me!" She cried, then lunged at me. She aimed a punch right towards my gut, but I quickly stepped aside and kicked the backsof her knees, causing them to buckle. She flew forward and I whipped around. "Yes, I know, I am THE Maximum Ride. I could beat all the Erasers. Flyboys. And now, you." Her eyes turned to cold fear as I aimed a punch near her left lung. She gasped in pain. I grabbed her wrists, and pushed her forward into a tree. I kept her there as I said, "Now. You will NOT fight me anymore, or hurt my flock. We are going to talk, and explain about each other and if your story is any bit fishy," I inched close so that our noses were touching and growled softly, "I will make you dig your own grave." I pinned her to the tree with my foot as I turned 360 degrees to check on the Flock.

Gazzy and Iggy were on the ground, probably making bombs or something. Fang was watching me from feet away, trying to figure out when to step in. Nudge was running towards something in the trees.

Angel.

I dropped her! But I wanted to kill little Ms. Red Head so badly that I didn't even remember that her rib was cracked, and she couldn't fly good, and... and...

I bit my lip so hard blood squirted through. I kicked the girls ankle so hard she dropped towards the ground clutching it and I super-sped towards my baby. Fang followed me.

I landed in the woods and I heard Nudge yelling, "Max! I found her! I found her! Max! She's OK! _She's Ok!" _Those last words brought tears to my eyes and I ran towards her voice. I turned a corner and gasped.

There were two people chasing us. Fire head girl was over there. And the boy...

Was over here holding Angel.

His hair was dyed blue. His eyes were brown, and his skin tone suggested that his natural hair color was brown because of his tanned skin.

And Angel. She was fine. Her eyes were teary, and she was hugging the boy.

I was still staring when Iggy and Gazzy ran up behind me. And when Red Head came over. She snarled, "I thought it was rude to stare." I glared.

I turned to leader mode. "Everyone, SIT!" Everyone sat, even Red Head and Blue. "We have to clear things up. Now."

So, we all settled in a circle. I ordered, "You two. Tell us your story so I could determine to trust you or not."

The girl, who was still mad about me beating her little... butt, didn't speak. Little Boy Blue started talking, "We lived at the School until we were 3 years old." The Flock exchanged glances. He continued, "One day, a whitecoat came into our room and turned off all the security. The he opened the big cages..." He shut his eyes, trying to remember. "And let us out. And then, ummmmmm, he hid us in a cart. And, took us into one of the labs and started furiously typing into one of the computers. And then a whitecoat ran in saying how two avians are missing. And Jeb said, "They were taken into the extermination room. One's wings were broken, and the other one was too fierce." So then we kept going. He drove us, silently, in a truck, and then dropped us off in the middle of the woods and handed us cans and cans of soup, and then drove away. We haven't seem him since."

I decided to trust them.


End file.
